Verizon Wireless quietly launched its faster high-speed Internet for Orange County. Known as “Rev-A” because it’s a revision of the existing EVDO cellular Internet technology, users may or may not notice much difference.

If you’re just big on web surfing and e-mail checking, the uptick in speed may not be noticeable. But it’s for the folks who are uploading files, such as an on-the-spot video taken with a cell phone that you want to upload to YouTube or other video-sharing site. This is supposed to be faster. Verizon is touting these factoids: Uploading a 1 MB file will now take 13 seconds instead of two minutes. Download a 1 MB file will take 8 seconds instead of 20 seconds.

Rev-A speeds are:
Upload: 500-800 kbps
Download: 600-1,4000 kbps

Speed, of course, depends on how good the connection is. And for Orange County, it should be faster than before. Verizon said Rev-A is now available throughout its entire OC network, which covers 95 percent of the southern Californian population. To see for myself, Verizon sent me a USB modem to test out and this was some of the speeds I got:

I’m planning to run a few more tests and report back in the next week, plus have some roving reporters here help me out with the test. In the meantime, if you’re interested in this, check your local Verizon Wireless store. Available options are the new V740 ExpressCard, the compact USB720 wireless modem (pictured) and the Aircard 595 and PC5750 PC Card.

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